They finally got Golden Magic cheered in Arena Naucalpan. They just needed to give the crowd someone else to be angry about. This entire match was built to big Super Astro Jr. spots and he had a rough night. I appreciate the effort of trying to make a new guy a star, but I’m not sure it would’ve worked regardless: the fans didn’t see Super Astro Jr. at the level as the other guys at the start and his botches in key moments just confirmed their beliefs. His tope was awesome, and he got thrown around well, but he stuck out in this match in a bad way and it would’ve been an easy recommendation without him. It’s a really fun match if you’re looking for multiman action, and the dive train is among the best I’ve seen this year. Production is goofy; they have two cameras, but aren’t big on switching back and forth on them for key moments. Rey Horuz looked like a standout (and his split mask looked cool), Último Ninja looked good, and I wish we’d got more of them and less of Astro.

A strong match in front of a very loud crowd. Sadico looked like one of the fastest and cleanest wrestlers around in this match. Bandido, Golden Magic and Emperador Azteca had some moments too. The finishing spot was good, it was just missing a little more drama before the end. And maybe it would’ve been cooler if the crowd dive was on the camera side.

This match doesn’t seem much early, as anything good is canceled out by some communication issues. It gets better when Cerebro Negro decides to start punching the heck of tecnicos, then just goes wild in the second fall and end of the third. This is much more a random really hot TV match than a must see year end match. Still, it’s not particularly long and goes crazy for a few moments, an easy use of time. It’s also the year contribution to my (probably misguided) belief that Hijo del Pantera is at least top 50 guy in Mexico who we only see about six times a year.

required Freelance moonsault into the crowd GIFcameraman had zero idea this was coming

Some matches don’t really have much of a story. This match definitely has a story! Impulso’s plan is to find high places and leap off them onto Demus any chance he gets. Demus has spent the last many years fighting tiny guys who attempt similar things, so sometimes that works out well for Impulso and sometimes it works out very poorly. The match ends perfectly in that story. Not working so perfectly is how obvious Impulso is at blading. He’s actually sort of hilarious transparent at getting his blade ready to cut, then cutting this forehead while the chair is on him. You’re going to see it unless you put both hands over your eyes. Usually there’s a cut away there. This is a pretty fun match while it lasted. There’s a post match brawl to set up a match that isn’t happening (this is RCH’s last show!), so the finish in the match is coming maybe a little sooner than you’d expect.

This is an elimination match, which I forgot until the match kept going, and maybe people in the match also forgot until it kept going.

Review: Keyra and Lady Maravilla take a break from destroying each to beat up two of the Kamikazes, who give it back as much as they get. This is the usual Mexican Strong Style match with two women who aren’t doing a lot of flying but more than willing to make it up with suplexes and hard shots. This gets uncomfortable, not just in men slapping women sense, but in the no one seemingly taking much care of each other at times. Iron Kid drops Maravilla really awkwardly, then she gets two bad shots from Alas de Acero near the end, but she gets in shots earlier. The lack of sharpness plays into the out of control feeling of the match, as out of control as some of the dives felt. The match is dinged a little by the initial finish coming out of nowhere, and the second elimination feeling tacked on and unnecessary. Still, unless men versus women violence makes it tough for you to enjoy a match, this is one definitely worth your time.

all kinds of spinsKeyra armdragthe good part about watching lucha matches much later is you can be certain no one died during them

There’s a lot of versions of this match. The longest version is the Estrellas del Ring one, but they do condense the match at points.

Review:

There’s a minute or two stretch here where Arez just takes over the match: meets a dive with a chair, finishes that guy off violently, brings the other two back in and takes them out for a while. He’s just missing his own dive from being all you need to see off Arez. He looks dominant when he’s meant to be and on another level than everyone else here. Of course, that means it’s about it for him in a multiman elimination match. The match loses something without him and with it being slowed down for the final two. Even with dead parts being cut out, it feels like it drags a bit to get before the finish. This one does come thru much better in video than it would on GIFs, with a lot of hard chops early on and near the end. Crowd reacts better to the finish than I thought they would.